The Game Of Life

The food on the table was all gone, not even a single drop of sauce was left. It was as if someone had licked the plates clean.

If not for Jiang Weiguo"s temper, Jiang Jiankang and Jiang Jiandang would"ve licked them.

With Jiang Weiguo getting older, his strength wasn"t what it used to be. A meal like what the Jiang family has just had couldn"t even be seen during Lunar New Year.

Jiang Jiandang looked at the empty plates on the table and thought of his son, who did not show any talent for cooking. The thought of him made him angry at his son.

Jiang Shoucheng, Jiang Jiandang"s son who had been admitted into the Imperial City Medical University, was on his way back on the train. He suddenly sneezed and couldn"t help but wonder why it was so cold on the train.

"Jiandang, you"re in charge of buying fresh ingredients from the morning market every day from this day onwards," Jiang Weiguo ordered. "I want them fresh! Don"t let me see another vegetable that has pesticides on it!"

Jiang Jiandang quickly nodded, understanding that the level of ingredients could affect the outcome of a dish.

 "Xiao Feng will be learning from me!" Jiang Weiguo then continued. "You must master how to control the flame first! How are you going to take over your father"s career if you can"t even handle the basics? Just look at the congee you"ve made this morning! Don"t you dare make excuses like studying is more important when you were a kid, understand? What"s so good about Optoelectronic Information anyway? You make it sound like you can get a better career out of that."

It was clear that Jiang Weiguo wasn"t happy that Jiang Feng decided not to become a chef because he wanted to attend a university in the past.

"…"

Jiang Feng was speechless. He really liked studying when he was younger.

At least it was better than cutting potatoes, cuc.u.mbers, and tofu every day. He would even have to continue when he"d cut himself and wrapped his fingers in bandages.

"Then… What about me?" Jiang Jiankang asked, waiting for his father to give him his role.

"What about your business?" Jiang Weiguo asked back.

"Dad"s right, what about your business?" w.a.n.g Xiulian asked before turning to Jiang Weiguo. "Dad, I can help with the cleaning."

If w.a.n.g Xiulian could taste Jiang Weiguo"s food every day just by cleaning the dishes, it would be a good trade.

"…"

Jiang Weiguo stared at w.a.n.g Xiulian and nodded slightly.

When Jiang Weiguo got up to leave the dining table, both w.a.n.g Xiulian and Li Mingli started to clean the table together.

"I"ll do the dishes!" they shouted in unison.

Not giving any attention to both the women, Jiang Weiguo got the chopping board and knife out. He then picked out a few potatoes and carrots from the sack that Jiang Jiankang had bought before placing them in front of Jiang Feng.

"Dice these potatoes and slice these carrots," Jiang Weiguo ordered Jiang Feng. "I want to see if your cutting skills have improved or not."

But, of course, Jiang Feng"s skills had not improved at all. If anything they had even worsened.

Jiang Feng recalled the time that he would have to cut food every day under the shoutings of Jiang Weiguo.

When night fell, Jiang Weiguo used the ingredients that Jiang Feng had cut that barely pa.s.sed his criteria and cooked a few dishes with them. The rest were sent to Healthy Snack Bar.

For the next few days, foods that were made with carrots and potatoes were on sale.

Jiang Feng felt like he was apprenticing in a well-established restaurant. He could only be seen in the kitchen, cutting foods every day. Even after all the hard work, he would still get scolded by his grandfather.

The only thing that everyone was glad about was that Jiang Feng could finally cut meats instead of only vegetables.

To congratulate Jiang Feng for deboning a whole chicken for the first time, Jiang Weiguo used the chicken that went through torture to make chicken chops.

"You can start cooking tomorrow," Jiang Weiguo finally announced during lunch.

The news made Jiang Feng shed tears of happiness.

As for Chen Xiuxiu, she was shy to dine with the Jiang family at first. Then it turned to her joining them during dinner without any of them inviting her. And now, she would even arrive hours before to help w.a.n.g Xiulian and Li Mingli with the preparation work. Then Chen Xiuxiu, who kept rambling about losing weight, was nowhere to be seen anymore.

Both Jiang Feng and Chen Xiuxiu have their eyes on the same piece of chicken.

When their chopsticks clashed, Jiang Feng couldn"t help but sigh.

The day has finally arrived.

It was a piece of chicken that was perfectly fried and fully coated in a wonderful sauce.

"Aren"t you on a diet? Don"t you have to watch your calorie intake?" Jiang Feng asked.

"Xiuxiu on a diet? Does she even need to?" Jiang Shoucheng asked in shock as he raised his head suddenly.

"Shut up and eat!" Jiang Weiguo scolded at Jiang Shoucheng.

His grandfather"s scolding quickly made Jiang Shoucheng drop his head back down and stuff his mouth with food.

"I need the energy to exercise, right?" Chen Xiuxiu said as she twisted her chopsticks and knocked Jiang Feng"s chopsticks apart from each other. She did the twist perfectly from the experience of robbing foods from Jiang Feng when they were younger.

"Ding! Side Quest Complete. [Neighbor"s Wish]. Quest Reward: Congee Cooking (Intermediate)."

The tiring training for the past few days had made Jiang Feng forget about the quest completely.

Chen Xiuxiu was back to how she was a year ago.

Looking at the piece of chicken on Chen Xiuxiu"s plate, Jiang Feng wasn"t sure that he was supposed to be happy or sad.

"You"ll start with frying eggs first," Jiang Weiguo said.

"Grandpa… Can I make you some congee for dinner?" Jiang Feng tried to argue. He planned to use his newly gained intermediate skill to satisfy the old man.

"Congee again! What"s wrong with you?" Jiang Weiguo immediately scolded. "Did I teach you everything just so you could make some congee?"

Jiang Feng quickly shut his mouth.

It seemed like Jiang Weiguo was starting to regret his decision.

The only way that Jiang Feng could make a dish that Jiang Weiguo acknowledged was if his great-grandfather were to take over his body.

After lunch, w.a.n.g Xiulian, Li Mingli, and Chen Xiuxiu started cleaning the dishes like always. Jiang Chengshou went to help out at Jiang Jiankang"s restaurant per his grandfather"s order. As for Jiang Feng, he started chopping again.

Even if he could progress to the next step, he still had to cut his own ingredients.

Jiang Feng didn"t even have the chance to check the details of his newly found skill. One wrong cut and Jiang Weiguo would shout at him.

"Did you even put your strength into it?" Chen Xiuxiu mocked as she took a bite out of a cuc.u.mber. "You can even cut properly."

"…"

Women are ruthless…